Comrade Lenin Cleanses the Earth of Filth

“Comrade Lenin cleanses the Earth of filth”

After a political revolution, any new government would want to give credit to, and cement the legacy of their revolutionary leader. Upon establishing the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1912, propaganda with Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Vladimir Lenin’s likeliness was spread all through society. One of the most popular pieces in early Soviet society comes from artist and member of the Department for Agitation and Propaganda, Viktor Deni in November of 1920 (Satter, 57). This piece, entitled “Comrade Lenin Cleanses the Earth of Filth,” credits Lenin with cleansing the Soviet Union of oppressive forces that failed the proletariat class, represented by two emperors, a cleric, and a bourgeois banker. In this piece, Lenin is pictured in common dress with a broomstick, representative of communist ideology, sweeping the four men off of the face of the planet. Their reactions serve to show the crumbling structures of the crooked bourgeoisie class, the monarchy, and the Church, as Lenin towers over them, showcasing his power and dominance in this situation.

This poster would have been put up around the Soviet Union starting in the early 1930s, as a way to continue to reinforce the benefits of the communist state, free from the chains of a religious oligarchy and bourgeois ruling class. Although the rural Soviet population of over 170 million would have been widely illiterate and unable to read the text underneath the picture, Vladimir Lenin’s face and dress would have been extremely familiar through practices such as the Cult of Lenin that was instigated by Josef Stalin, and the Red Corner (Jowett and O’Donnell, 250). The Red Corner became a tradition where people would keep Soviet memorabilia and propaganda such as busts, posters, and paintings commemorating leaders such as Lenin, and eventually Josef Stalin. These types of practices would be a subtle reminder of communist rule, even in intimate settings such as the home.

The Department of Agitation and Propaganda within the Soviet government created posters, such as this one, and other mediums of propaganda that were spread through all of society. In identifying a target audience, this poster would have been a part of a style of propaganda that was meant to appeal to everyone, as it would have been posted in or on buildings, and around cities in the Soviet Union. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, a leader of the Bolsheviks who, through the February and October Revolutions, moved Russia from a monarchy, to the provisional government, and eventually to the communist controlled Soviet Union, was a representative of the dream of the proletariat working class who sought prosperity after generations and generations of seemingly unescapable serfdom (Satter, 78). The Soviet “agitprop” style of propaganda spread helped strengthen communism throughout the nation by reinforcing these sentiments constantly both though the likeliness of communist heroes such as Marx and Lenin, and thorough the celebration of the working man and woman, celebrating the efforts of individuals working for a better communist society in every aspect of Soviet life.